Her confessions are the core of the surviving record. Angus Folklore gives the dates above and Wikipedia says she helped the hunters find more witches by claiming to recognise them by sight. Her claims included that she and companions had sunk a ship with the Devil's help and that other women had flown to the coronation of Charles II on 23 April 1661 (see the separate record).
The confessions were given while she was a prisoner in a town that had hired a witch-pricker, and the claims should be read as products of that setting. The record is useful for what it shows of the belief system, including the Devil appearing as a horse and the belief that witches could sink ships.
Comments